Embodiments herein generally relate to a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) encoding device, and more particularly, concerns a MICR encoding device that uses magnetic heads to align a blank region of a MICR print band with any device.
Check printing is a unique application in that the quality of the output is determined by a third party, some days, weeks or months after the check is printed. Poor performance in the payments system requires manual intervention, and penalty fees are assessed when performance falls below a bank's threshold of pain. In addition, processing requires the check to be both readable, and encodable with additional machine-readable information.
The first step in check processing is the reconciliation of the debits represented by the checks against the credit defined by the deposit ticket. The MICR line on all issued checks contains a blank area to the right, called the Amount Field, where the bank of first deposit (BOFD) encodes the amount of the check (see the blank region 202 in FIG. 2, discussed below). In this “proof of deposit” step, the BOFD encodes all the check amounts in the MICR Amount field, and then puts the total amount of the deposit on the deposit ticket amount field for crediting to the customer's account. This assures that each transaction is in balance at the point where the checks begin processing.
This Amount field, or proof encoding is done with high-transfer impact and thermal ribbon technologies. Typing-on-copy issues surfaced when functional release agents within MICR encoders became popular. One problem occurred because there was an interaction between ribbon typewriters and the functional oil used in the fuser release agents. MICR amount encoding can suffer from the same issue.
Further, some color printing/encoding devices use an amino-functional oil, and this release agent has caused MICR encoding issues. There are some approaches for mitigating the negative effect of release agents in MICR applications. One approach involves the application of an aqueous wax to the areas that will be subject to subsequent printing/encoding (e.g., the Amount Field (blank area)). Inclusion of a dye allows the wax application to be seen, so an operator can verify that the wax applicator is properly aimed at the start of a job. However, visibility does not guarantee proper application throughout the job. A second issue for consideration is that a MICR job may not have a check on every sheet. It is desirable for both economic and aesthetic reasons to only treat MICR documents intended for processing, and not to treat intervening blank sheets.
In order to insure proper placement for a MICR line treatment, embodiments herein determine the location of the MICR characters (and the corresponding location of the Amount Field (blank area)) by magnetic sensing of the location of the MICR print band. Alignment of the treatment mechanism (or any other device) is then based on the signal produced by the sensors. Embodiments herein can use, for example, an inexpensive, short gap magnetic head, similar to those used to read credit cards, to align the MICR print band with the treatment applicator.
Positions of the printed MICR characters up or down relative to the read head, reduces the strength of the signal produced by the head. Correction of head (and thus applicator) location restores the proper head response and insures the application location is correct in the cross process direction. Process direction location is triggered by the paper lead edge under software control.
Thus, embodiments herein include a magnetic character recognition (MICR) encoding device that has a sheet path that transports sheets, and a magnetic ink marking station positioned along the sheet path. The magnetic ink marking station places magnetic ink markings on the sheets and the sheets include a blank region (that is aligned with the magnetic ink markings) that will receive additional magnetic ink markings later.
In order to prepare the blank region to receive the additional magnetic ink markings, the apparatus also includes a treatment station positioned along the sheet path. The treatment station applies a chemical treatment to the blank region as the sheets pass along the sheet path that compensates for a fuser release agent that the marking station uses. If the blank region was not treated, the fuser release agent might detrimentally affect the printing of the additional magnetic ink markings.
In order to properly align the blank region with the treatment station, the embodiments herein include at least one magnetic read head that is positioned before the treatment station along the sheet path. In other words, the sheets pass the read head before the sheets pass the treatment station as the sheets are moving along the sheet path within the apparatus. The read head is positioned so that the read head can sense the fields produced by the magnetic ink markings as the sheets travel along the sheet path.
In addition, the apparatus includes a controller that is operatively connected to the read head. The controller analyzes the signals from the read head to determine whether the magnetic ink markings are aligned with the treatment station. A substantial change in the strength of the signal received from the read head would indicate misalignment. The controller can include various signal filters such as a low pass filter. Such filters process the signal received from the read head to make the signal more homogenous irrespective of the different shapes of the different magnetic ink characters that can be included within the magnetic paint markings. Some embodiments herein can use multiple read heads to determine a direction of misalignment according to a difference between signals produced by the read heads.
These and other features are described in, or are apparent from, the following detailed description.